3-11-17 // Expanded Cinema Selections from the Canyon Collection

Emerging in the 1960s as a counterpoint to established cinematic traditions, the trajectory of expanded cinema is rich in experimentation, aesthetic diversity, and works that are enduringly relevant. Nestled within the collection of local film distributor Canyon Cinema are several essential expanded cinema works that track the breadth of this particular form of cinema experience. Join media artist and expanded cinema provocateur Alex Mackenzie for a fascinating array of expanded cinema works from Canyon’s shelves. From films that create visual conversations through multiple projectors to works that forgo the traditional movie screen entirely, each selection radically reimagines the language of cinema.

This event is presented in partnership with the Exploratorium and San Francisco Cinematheque.

Alex MacKenzie is a Vancouver-based media artist working primarily with 16mm analog film equipment and hand-processed imagery. His light projection installations, projector performances, and other works have screened at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, the EXiS Experimental Film Festival in Seoul, Lightcone in Paris, Kino Arsenal in Berlin, and many other festivals and art spaces worldwide. The founder and curator of the Edison Electric Gallery of Moving Images, the Blinding Light!! Cinema, and the Vancouver Underground Film Festival, MacKenzie was also an artist in residence at Atelier MTK in Grenobles France, the Struts Gallery/Faucet Media in New Brunswick, Cineworks’ Analog Film Annex in Vancouver, and Daimon in Gatineau. He is a founding member of the Iris Film Collective in Vancouver.​

Canyon Cinema is thankful for the long term support of the George Lucas Family Foundation. Dedicated project funding for Canyon Cinema 50 has been generously provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Owsley Brown III Foundation, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation and The Fleishhacker Foundation.